So, in case you haven’t been following the newest Sony-Geohot drama, we’ve been following the case thoroughly for the past few weeks and have summarized the extent of the situation as it has unfolded under the cut below.
The same hacker who originally hacked the PS3′s firmware recently went even deeper and perhaps found the biggest jailbreak of all. After Sony’s attempts to fix the exploit that hacker ‘Geoshot’ had found, along with various different groups taking up the helm when he was supposedly “done” with the PS3, he recently posted the root key to the console.
For a brief understanding of the root key, it’s more of a last resort for the system to decide what’s a legit game or not. It also prevents other OS’s from being installed further on the system anymore. With this out in the open, it opens the way for pirates, hackers, modders and many more to start exploiting the system. Geohot himself might have opened the doorway for them (although he explicitly states on his site multiple times that he doesn’t condone it, and really, only did this because of the ‘Other OS’ removal from the PS3,) but he’s also using these hacks as a hint towards employment with any of the three console developers, adding in the comment of “if you want your next console to be secure, get in touch with me. any of you 3. it’d be fun to be on the other side.”
However, Sony has finally responded back, serving Geohot and the fail0verflow hacking group with a temporary restraining order which will hereby keep them from posting anything jailbreaking to the web in any form along with a Digital Millennium Copyright Act violation and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act violation. While he has responded through his lawyer stating that he is not going to comply with the TRO and has left the root key up on his site for the time being. It also appears that the court date has already been delayed, meaning any ‘damages’ they might sue for may continue further as more and more people start to use the root key to their own devices.
The first example of one of these damages that Sony might sue (if not Infinity Ward as well) for is the damages to Modern Warfare 2. Since the root key has been posted, players run the risk of not only playing on servers with hacks enabled, but also losing all stats that they might have. Infinity Ward has stated that it is not “something they can patch” as with the security of the platform compromised, it will continue to happen again and again. Until there is a resolution, they are suggesting playing in private matches or moving on to Black Ops.
As it is, the root key is still available to the general public, and with it out there, who knows what hackers are going to use it for. With so much at stake, I think the biggest question at the front of everyone’s mind is whether or not Sony is planning on truly resolving the issue or simply letting people run rampant on their system. For now, only time will tell.
The Gaming Vault and all of its writers do not support piracy or exploitation of intellectual property such as this, but we do feel that it’s important that you readers know these things so you do not unwittingly fall victim to the occurrences and the following consequences.
